Rapaport, who makes his feature directing debut with his chronicle of the classic hip-hop group, is no stranger to Hollywood, having acted in more than 80 films and television series, including Beautiful Girls, True Romance, Mighty Aphrodite and Boston Public. But he’s also a native New Yorker and a self-professed super-fan of the Tribe.
We absolutely loved the documentary when it screened at the Tribeca Film Festival, so we were eager to hear more about the infamous discord between group members Phife and Q-Tip (along with the very public fact that Q-Tip has refused involvement in supporting the film), Rapaport’s experience growing up alongside Tribe’s members, and his transition from actor to director.
Rapaport: I know, it’s crazy, right?
I saw that you were promoting the documentary in Los Angeles with Jarobi, Ali and Phife – three of the four Tribe members.
Three outta four ain’t bad!
Considering the fact that the Tribe is all about brotherhood and unity and family dynamic – no matter how dysfunctional – how do you feel about not having one member, Q-Tip, with you to support the film?
I mean, at the end of the day he’s losing out on it. He’s losing out on the response. You know, the response that the movie gets is different than the response that their live performances give and the response to the albums. Obviously I would love to have the whole group together because that’s what the fans want to see, but it doesn’t affect me or affect the film, and the more that he doesn’t publicly support the film, the more curiosity it’s creating around the film. So I don’t know if he’s, like, a brilliant PR person or whatever but the more Q-Tip lets it be the other guys or makes comments on Twitter, it’s just creating more controversy and the movie continues to gain momentum – it’s coming out in more theaters now than initially planned and all those things are great, so there’s nothing I can do about it. I don’t even know where his head’s at.
The documentary is – in my opinion – incredibly neutral, considering the fact that you are a super fan of the Tribe. That had to be a really hard thing for you to do. You’ve mentioned that Tribe is your favorite rap group – how did you approach the relationship between Phife and Q-Tip, knowing that there’s this rift between them – how did you attempt to manage it? And did you walk into the project with allegiances one way or another?
No, I didn’t go in there with any allegiances. I’d never met Phife before I started making the movie. I’ve known Q-Tip. As far as how I kept perspective – I never judged them, as people, and I knew that it was not my place to judge them as a filmmaker and it was not my place to side with one or the other and it was a very tedious process – the editing process took a long time because we wanted to keep it balanced, and keep the perspective neutral in the film. Because telling a story that spans over 20 years from four people’s perspectives – they all have different versions of the big things that went down in the group. And trying to piece it together for what I think is the most important versions of each one of their truths was hard, but I didn’t meddle in their business. The most I meddled in was, when certain subjects would come up, I would say, “You ever talk to Tip about this?” Or, “You ever talk to Phife about this?” Or, “You guys ever sit down and talk about this?” And the answer – shockingly – was mostly, “No.” And the thing that I related to is the fact that I’ve been through my own fractured relationships and I know my part in my own fractured relationships and how hard it is to let go of things – resentment, frustration, feeling that you’ve been cheated or deceived – all those things are hard for all of us to let go of. So I certainly know that I’m no champion in that area and I have my faults in that area so I wasn’t in a place to judge them.
To get more of the interview check out SpinOff ! This is good stuff. Beats Rhymes & Life: The Travels of a Tribe Called Quest hits theaters July 8th.
1 comment:
Can't wait!!
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